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Thanksgiving is a time to reflect upon our many blessings. At NEI, we know how fortunate our country is to have reliable, affordable and clean power from nuclear energy.

The clean aspect of nuclear is especially important as world leaders meet next week at COP21 to discuss plans to fight climate change. Nuclear energy facilities provide 63 percent of America’s zero-carbon electricity. Globally, nuclear power plants provide one-third of all zero-carbon electricity. One of nuclear’s major advantages relative to other low-carbon energy sources is its unique ability to produce large-scale electricity around-the-clock in extreme weather conditions. Now that's something to give thanks for.

Here are the top seven things we are thankful for this Thanksgiving: On behalf of everyone at NEI, Happy Thanksgiving!

This is the United States in the 1930s:Although nearly 90 percent of urban dwellers had electricity by the 1930s, only ten percent of rural dwellers did. Private utility companies, who supplied electric power to most of the nation's consumers, argued that it was too expensive to string electric lines to isolated rural farmsteads. Anyway, they said, most farmers, were too poor to be able to afford electricity.The Roosevelt Administration believed that if private enterprise could not supply electric power to the people, then it was the duty of the government to do so. Most of the court cases involving TVA during the 1930s concerned the government's involvement in the public utilities industry.The piece on the Rural Electric Administration goes on to explain the battles that ensued, with utilities and members of Congress concerned that the government’s plan interfered overmuch with the free market.But:By 1939 the REA had helped to establish 417 rural electric cooperatives, which…

From Jolly Olde England:The UK's remaining coal-fired power stations will be shut by 2025 with their use restricted by 2023, Energy Secretary Amber Rudd has proposed.A little more:Ms. Rudd wants more gas-fired stations to be built since relying on "polluting" coal is "perverse". Only if gas-fuelled power can fill the void created by closing coal-powered stations would coal plants be shut, she said.“Perverse!” Still, that doesn’t sound as promising as it could, from our perspective. But:"Gas is central to our energy-secure future," she said. "So is nuclear."She believes that plans for new nuclear power stations, including those at Wylfa in Wales, Moorside in Cumbria and Hinkley Point in Somerset, could eventually provide almost a third of the low carbon electricity the UK needs.Well, let’s see: coal and natural gas each currently generate about 30 percent of the UK’s electricity, with nuclear energy and renewables at about 19 percent each. A…

NEI's Maria Korsnick participated in a panel discussion on energy at the Republic Governors Association annual meeting in Las Vegas yesterday. NEI's Mike McGarey passed along this report:Kansas Governor Brownback moderated a session that included Idaho Governor Otter and Wyoming Governor Mead and an audience of governors staffs. She noted that despite the challenges, new plants are being built and that with the right federal and state policies -- driven by carbon constraints -- high-performing existing plants can stay on the job far into the future.

Idaho's Butch Otter enthused about SMRs. In the most "tweetable" exchange, Governor Brownback asked, "Why don't the environmentalists love Nuclear energy's zero emissions?", to which Maria replied, "Maybe they just don't know us well enough yet."

This week, NEI's President and CEO Marv Fertel expressed his deepest sympathies regarding the tragic attacks in Paris. Here is his letter to members:
I join my colleagues here at NEI and throughout the NEI membership in expressing our deep sadness over the senseless loss of life in last week’s terrorist attacks in Paris. We extend our sympathy to you, your countrymen and your colleagues. Truly, none of us in this industry are untouched.

We know this tragedy strikes our colleagues and friends at Electricite de France particularly hard, with the loss of Electrical Engineer Juan Alberto Gonzalez. Clearly his work, talent and spirit will be missed, both at EDF and the International Youth Congress.

We are indeed one community in the nuclear energy industry, and each of us shares this loss and stands with you. Our industry has a great legacy of achievement working with its many French colleagues. Through that, we have experienced great resilience and commitment. This will truly guide u…

Times are bracing. The first fall chill contributes, of course, but it’s bracing, too, that the spotlight has fallen so strongly upon nuclear energy. The White House Nuclear Energy summit two Fridays ago contributed mightily to this sudden attention and so has the COP21 conference in Paris next month.
These two events seem to have spurred exceptional interest in the atom, even when the summit or the upcoming U.N. climate change conference are not explicitly mentioned.
From The Los Angeles Times:
Nuclear energy's importance in reducing emissions is beyond dispute. In January, the International Energy Agency called nuclear power “a critical element in limiting greenhouse gas emissions.” It calculated that global nuclear generation capacity must more than double by 2050 (to about 750 gigawatts) if there is any hope of limiting temperature increases to the 2 degrees that is widely agreed as acceptable.This story from Power covers the Washington summit:
Even some former nuclear opp…

I’m giving a signal boost to One Direction’s fifth album, “Made in the A.M.,” which at the end of the day is just perfect. (Both puns intended – looking at you, Harry.) You may wonder what this band has to do with nuclear energy. Turns out since they launched the Action 1D campaign this past summer, quite a lot. ﻿﻿﻿
I never went through a boy band phase as a teen, never hung the posters, bought the merchandise or cared about individual members. Sure, I listened to Backstreet Boys and NSYNC, but who didn’t? One Direction has been around since 2010, yet I only discovered Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Liam Payne earlier this year. Zayn Malik too, aka the one that got away. How I got into the fandom was probably not how most of their supporters got there. Belonging to the band’s army of devotees, fittingly dubbed Directioners, is like being in a 24/7 glass case of emotion. I have no regrets, however, and I’m happy to call myself an unabashed fan of these young men.
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Veterans are unique members of American society. I am lucky to have served in the military. I had the opportunity to experience firsthand things most people only read about. From the threat of North Korean nuclear proliferation to tension in the South China Sea to patrols in the Strait of Hormuz, my six years in the Navy left me with skills, experiences and perspectives you cannot find anywhere else.

In exchange for six years as a Naval Officer I received a world class education at no cost. I was challenged in a leadership role at a young age and I grew as a professional. When I began working for the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) last January, I was surprised by the number of veterans I found in the industry. From power plants to utility infrastructure to corporate America, I was encouraged to learn that our industry not just prioritizes but actively seeks veterans. The program Troops to Energy Jobs, for example, is an energy industry initiative that provides veterans with a roadmap …

TerraPower is the nexus of several intersecting nuclear topics, including new technology and the global marketplace. The company, which is developing what it calls a traveling wave reactor, made a deal with the China National Nuclear Corp. to build a prototype traveling wave reactor and then a commercially-scaled version of it for deployment. At the same time, the U.S.-China agreement on commercial nuclear energy cooperation entered into force over this past weekend. The required congressional review period has ended, and the two governments have concluded diplomatic exchanges that set the agreement in motion. Daniel Lipman, NEI's vice president for suppliers and international programs, said this about the agreement. "Through 2040, the direct economic benefit to the United States from this renewed agreement with China is expected to be between $70 billion and $204 billion, with 20,000 to 45,000 American jobs supported annually. In addition, this commercial relationship will h…

This has certainly been a busy week for exploring the intersection of nuclear energy and policymaking. First, there was the NEI/Christian Science Monitor presentation on the COP21 conference (see post below for more on that) and today, the focus shifts to the home front with a White House Summit on Nuclear Energy. Not to waste your time (too much), here is the link to the live stream, which will presumably go live nearer 1:00 pm EST, when the summit kicks off.Here is NEI’s press release on the summit. If you can’t watch the video stream at work, perhaps you can follow NEI’s twitter feed – It’s also on NEI’s home page.See you there, if only virtually.

Yesterday, NEI and the Christian Science Monitor sponsored a public meeting to offer a preview of the upcoming COP21 conference. It proved to be exceptionally edifying because the speakers cut straight through the rhetoric surrounding the conference to discuss what is most likely to be accomplished rather than what might be wished for. Let’s set the table for new comers. The COP21 conference intends to bring together as many as 195 world leaders to sign an agreement to reduce carbon dioxide/greenhouse gas emissions consistent with limiting temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius by 2100. The Paris accord, if it is finalized and the signatory countries hold to their plans, will not accomplish this. According to Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, the agreement already hammered out limits temperature rise to 2.7 to 3 degrees Celsius. That sounds like a minor difference, but it is not – the impacts on world population would be sev…

Keegan looked at three scenarios: regular use, LTE browsing, and stand by time for an iPhone 6s. Under those conditions, Keegan estimated that the lithium ion battery in your iPhone should last 15 hours from regular use, 10 hours from LTE browsing, and 10 days on standby. The results ranged from an hour from a lead acid battery (similar to that of the one in your car) to 10 days by diesel fuel from regular use. In case you were curious, body fat would power your phone for 9 days.

Interestingly, there was one fuel source that didn't make Keegan's cut: …